Monday, January 26, 2009

Ever

Okay, last weekend my son had a 100+ temperature and infections in both ears, which made for an unpleasant couple of days. He was kind of zombied out on antibiotics and would only sleep if one of us was holding him. So we spent hours just sitting in a chair with him resting on our chests. I used this time to read Blake Butler's chapbook, Ever, and I have to say that if there ever was a book created to be read while holding a feverish baby against your chest, this is the book.

The language is incredible, as you would expect from Blake's work. I was interested, after reading and enjoying so much of his shorter fiction, to see what he would do in a longer work, and it's amazing how he is able to preserve the energy and bending and ticking that I've come to love in his fiction and maintain it over a longer span. It's crazy and original and the best kind of difficult. It's available from Calamari Press.